1. Field of the Invention
A time accounting system, utilizing a magnetic stripped card, primarily designed for use in a computerized accounting system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Time clocks and time recording systems are well-known in the prior art and are presently commercially available in a number of varied design configurations for a number of general and specific applications. Typically, a number of these prior art time clocks print the time on a card. The time is printed at the beginning and at the end of a job or work period. At the end of an accounting period, the time cards are normally manually gathered and the various time periods are manually computed to determine a total time period for which pay is then allocated. In the case of a firm employing a large number of persons, the time cards to be processed at the end of each accounting period becomes burdensome. This results in an extremely costly and time consuming accounting procedure.
There have been several attempts in the industry to rectify the above-mentioned inherent problems present in many of the prior art systems. One such system resulting from the attempted modifications involved the use of a time clock which registered time onto the card through a series of punches. At the end of the accounting period, the card was processed through a computer. Systems utilizing this type of technique, while providing relatively rapid data reduction, frequently have serious problems in that the time punched on the card is not immediately readable by the employee through mere examination. The employee is therefore unable to check the accuracy of the time recorded on the card, and similarly, the employer is unable to immediately determine the time that the employee is on the job from a mere occular examination of the card. For the employer to obtain this frequently needed information, the card must be processed through a computer. Of course, this is costly as well as time consuming.
Other prior art systems designed to alleviate the above-mentioned problems inherent in known or commercially available systems involve the time being printed on a card. At the end of the accounting period the data is reduced from the card to the computer generally by optical scanning equipment. In practice, optical scanning equipment is extremely expensive and sophisticated. Thus, any repairs to the sophisticated scanning equipment are expensive. Systems of this type have not met with extreme commercial success primarily because of the expense of initial installation, maintenance and reliability.
Additional prior art systems attempting to simplify time accounting has been the use of a plastic card, much like a credit card. The plastic card is encoded by holes or like means representing employee name, number and/or other desired data. The data contained on the card may be reduced by a computer. However, there are inherent problems in that the employee and employer are not immediately able to visably observe the information encoded on the card. Further, if there are frequent employee turnovers, the plastic cards themselves become a substantial expense.
Accordingly, it is obvious there is a need for a relatively simple time accounting system which gives the employee and employer immediately readable printout and provides easy data reduction for input to computers. Such a system must be relatively inexpensive to purchase and install and maintenance must be minimal. Further, the information receiving material must be relatively inexpensive while the entire operative system is reliable.